


Kiss Me Before Sunrise

by Maerissa



Category: Carole & Tuesday (Anime)
Genre: F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Publicity, Relationship Reveal
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-09
Updated: 2019-11-05
Packaged: 2020-11-28 07:22:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20962694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maerissa/pseuds/Maerissa
Summary: Mars Gossiper gets a paparazzi shot of Carole and Tuesday kissing, and Gus and Roddy decide to damage control by going public with their relationship. But does their outward relationship really reflect how the girls feel?





	1. Chapter 1

"Damn, that was fast. New record?" Carole's legs nearly gave way as she sank down into the grass by the river bank, her back pressed against Tuesday's.

"May- _huff-_ be," Tuesday panted, struggling to catch her breath. "It certainly- _huff-_ felt that way, at l- _phew-_ at least."

"In my book, it's all thanks to that adorable dog we passed. That precious grin totally motivated you too, right?"

Tuesday's panting morphed into an exaggerated gasp. "A cute dog? Where'd you see it?"

"Just by the river stairs; what, you missed it? It's not like you to miss something that cute."

Carole sighed and leaned a bit heavier backwards, feeling every tiny detail of Tuesday's back connecting with her own.

"I know, I know." Tuesday pushed back slightly, and turned her head to get a glimpse of Carole. "Running with you just puts me so at ease, I lose focus on things like that."

She splayed the fingers of her left hand outward on the grass underneath them, as if to signal its emptiness.

"When we're out like this, everything kind of fades into the background. Well, everything but you, you know?"

Tuesday’s casual tone saying something so cheesily sweet caught Carole completely off guard, and she thanked her workout-flushed face for hiding the blush that would otherwise have betrayed her reaction.  
In between breaths of her own, Carole felt Tuesday’s breathing calm down after the run, then pick up pace again as she let her own fingers slide underneath Tuesday’s palm and softly grip her hand. Tuesday couldn’t help but let out a quiet giggle and pushed their interlaced hands closer to her side, tightening her grip.  
The softness of Tuesday’s fingertips brushing against the back of her hand, despite the slight calluses from her diligent guitar practice, filled up Carole’s mind and relaxed her body even more. If they hadn’t had plenty of song revision work to do today, she would’ve been perfectly content staying like they were, this close together, for hours.

Carole took a deep breath of the crisp morning air to clear her head and stood up, pulling Tuesday to her feet by her still-held hand.

“Home?”

Tuesday nodded cheerfully and, fingers still intertwined, they slowly took off again.  
_Kind of a pointless thing to say_, Carole thought to herself and lightly stroked Tuesday’s thumb with her own; more than the dingy storage-room apartment or Alba City or all of Mars or Earth or any other place, this feeling, being connected to Tues like this, was home.

The apartment door creaked open to the now-familiar sight of their two-man management team, propped up against the kitchen counter.

“Morning!” Roddy waved to the girls, while the clearly either morning-tired or hungover Gus made no such effort.

“Didn’t we tell you to text before letting yourself in?” Carole protested, knowing full well it’d fall on deaf ears.

“Yeah, yeah,” Gus responded dismissively. “How was your workout?”

Tuesday set down her water bottle on the frame of the pale-pink sofa next to her, and smiled back at Gus.

“I think we beat our best time! Running in the morning is really helping me get going early.”

Gus raised his right eyebrow. “The earlier the better, I say. Less risk of getting caught by the camer-_ow!_”

As Roddy’s elbow drew back from being forcefully lodged in the big gut next to him, Gus cleared his throat and continued. “Anyway, I’ve got-”

“Good news,” Carole cut in. “As usual.”

“...Fine, have it your way. The Allen Show team emailed me last night. Apparently tomorrow’s guest is dropping out, so they asked you guys to be top of the reserve list.”

“Th-the Allen Show?” The colour drained from Tuesday’s still-flushed face, and Carole’s mouth popped open in puzzled surprise. “They really want us back after last time?”

“First-timers’ nerves, happens to everyone,” Gus assured them. “Hell, happened to me too. Go into hell once, and the second time’ll be like heaven.”

Carole ignored his platitude and continued, her tone of voice rising with her confusion.

“Besides, we barely have anything to promote right now. What could we even talk about?”

“...The bad news.”

Roddy ruffled through his backpack and pulled out a copy of the Mars Gossiper. Lining the sides of the glossy cover were gaudy bold-font headlines describing drama with Joshua (as always), Angela’s skin care routine, and - in the bottom corner, next to Roddy’s stretched-out finger - a candid photo from right outside their apartment.

Carole couldn’t remember when she and Tuesday had started kissing. It was never capital-K Kissing, definitely not lip to lip - Carole’s cheeks flushed at the thought of it - but at some point the shoulder-leans had started wordlessly continuing into pecks on the cheek. Or on the nose. Or anywhere they felt like.  
Come to think of it, they’d never as much as mentioned it to each other; there just… hadn’t been any need to? Actually, was that a problem to begin with, should she have been checking with Tuesday before quietly going along with taking things further?

“But I’m sure it’s going to be fine! I mean, acceptance polls on Mars have been looking really good recently, and…”

Roddy’s hasty attempt to soften the blow snapped Carole back to attention.

“I-I didn’t even realize, we had no idea people were-”

Carole glanced to her right, saw Tuesday’s wide-with-shock eyes and the trembling hands covering her mouth, and stopped herself mid-sentence.

“Anyway, I know this is none of our business.” Gus cut through the silence Carole’s pause had left. “But these goddamn gossip writers clearly don’t, so we have to think of some way to deal with ‘em.”

_Why?_ Carole couldn’t help but snap at him in her mind. What she had with Tuesday was between the two of them, all worked out with no words, totally self-evident. She probably couldn’t even explain it properly to Tuesday herself if she needed to, let alone to anyone prying in from outside of their bubble.  
At the same time, she knew where Gus was coming from - what happened to Ertegun had made it all too clear how scarily far even a single tabloid story could reach.

“This’ll sound really bad, but we have to start controlling the narrative.” Roddy handed the magazine to Gus, who promptly tossed it away over his shoulder.

“Spin it, basically. That Allen invite couldn’t have come at a better time, am I right?”


	2. Chapter 2

Carole anxiously tapped her fingers on the filming set sofa cushions, mimicking the chords of the song she and Tuesday were about to perform. She was used to feeling these nerves in the minutes before a show, but not like today. Her fingers were only going through the motions; her head was fully occupied with what Gus had told her before they went on.  
“Allen will definitely bring it up, all you have to do is confirm or deny.” The words echoed in her mind, the only thing keeping her steady in the dizzying swirl of thoughts and emotions flooding through her. 

Or, maybe not quite the only thing. Carole’s fidgeting stopped as Tuesday placed her hand over hers, weaving their fingers together, then curled her fingers and gripped Carole’s hand tighter. She could feel Tuesday’s fingertips trembling slightly as they gently dug into her palm, her grip loosening and tightening again with every deep breath. Carole folded her own fingers over Tuesday’s and held on securely, in a silent attempt to convince both Tuesday and herself that they were going to survive this interview. As long as Tues was here, as long as Carole could feel the warmth of her hand and the pace of her breaths, she would be fine.

The studio audience cheered, and in the corner of her eye, Carole saw something flicker. She looked up at the projector screen behind her and saw her own hand, fingers intertwined with Tuesday’s, taking up the entire frame. Tuesday let out a quiet yelp of surprise as they both instinctively pulled back. 

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here,” Allen chided with a calm smile.

Carole shuffled nervously and sat down on her hands, trying not to let her embarrassment show.

“We’re back with Carole and Tuesday, the Mars Brightest sweethearts, to talk new developments. And you’ve certainly got a lot going on, right?”

“Um, I- it’s not, what do you m-” Tuesday stammered, already flustered, before Allen stepped in again.

“I hear you’re working on an independent album?”

“...Ah! Yes!” Carole perked up; this, at least, was something she had a rehearsed answer to. “We’re still writing songs for it, so it’s in the works, but we hope you’ll all look forward to it!”

The cheers from the crowd gave Carole a second to relax her tensed shoulders and look to Tuesday, who still looked overwhelmed. _ Can’t blame her for that _, she thought to herself. Nevertheless, the audience’s energy boosted Carole enough to go along with Allen’s friendly banter, and even Tuesday joined in and responded to a question or two.

They both knew what was coming, but it still took them by surprise when that photo showed up on the screen. There she was, on her tiptoes to plant a post-recording kiss on Tues’s nose, blissfully unaware that any eyes but Tues’s were on her. Carole couldn’t pretend like it didn’t hurt seeing this snapshot of their life ripped out of context, left to fend for itself against wanton assumptions by people who had no idea what their relationship was. But that, she had to remind herself, was why they were here on _ Allen _ in the first place.

“So, take us through. What’s going on here?”

Allen gave them as soft a set-up as possible, but nothing was going to make this easy. Carole only had to take one look at Tuesday to know she’d be the one doing the talking, but what _ was _ going on here?

Her mind raced back through 2am songwriting flows, the way Tues would excitedly reach for her hands or rest her sleepy head on Carole’s shoulder, the hugs that lasted seconds but felt safe and eternal and still much, much too short. Her anxieties about Tuesday’s feelings wouldn’t go away - they couldn’t, not unless Tuesday’s mind just opened up for her to read - but no matter what, Carole knew what _ she _ wanted the answer to be.

“I, it’s just… a moment between girlfriends?”

Carole’s vision blurred slightly as seemingly all the blood in her body rushed to her head. If the audience was cheering, the heartbeat in her ears was too loud for her to pick it up.

_ Girlfriends _ . Was that it? Her gaze fixed on the equally beet-red Tuesday, who scooted up as close to her as she could, closed eyes nearly hidden under her fringe. It didn’t matter now; as long as Tuesday was this close to her, they could call it anything they wanted. Still, she couldn’t deny what saying that out loud had made her feel. _ Girlfriends _, she repeated to herself, and felt the spark course through her body one more time, just for the sake of it.

The spark stayed with Carole through their stage performance, and shot into her mind at just the right time to lean over to Tuesday at the end of the song, look deep into her ice blue surprise-widened eyes, and gently kiss the tip of her nose. This time, she could hear the crowd react, but not even the deafening noise of a validated studio audience could make her look away for even a second from Tuesday’s - her _ girlfriend’s _ \- shocked expression slowly shifting into an overwhelmed smile. 

Compared to the shrieking crowd they’d just played for, the quiet in the dressing room was somehow even more deafening. Carole assured herself she wanted to dwell in the moment alone with _ her girlfriend _ just a while longer, but even if she’d wanted to speak up, she was at a total loss as to what she could possibly say to her.

“We... should post to our Insta.” Without looking away from the wall her stare had been locked on, Tuesday broke the silence.

“Oh! You’re… you’re probably right,” Carole responded, suddenly taken out of her mind’s state of fixation. “Since things turned out this way, should we do some special pose or something?”

Tuesday tilted her head back over the edge of the dressing room chair and pursed her lips. “Something that… says we’re a couple...”

Hearing her use that word sent sparks through Carole’s body again, a proper reminder of the reason they were in this dressing room in the first place. From now on, that’s what they were, to each other and everyone else in their world. A couple. And everything that came with that label, whatever that was.

“I should... text Roddy and see what he thinks would be good. Right?”

Carole looked down at Tuesday’s fingers swiping across her phone, then quizzically at Tuesday herself.

“Wh-huh? It’s just an Insta post, right?”

“Of course, but… it’s supposed to be couple-y.”

The genuine confusion in Tuesday’s voice threw Carole off as well. What would Roddy know about the way she and Tues would act as girlfriends?

“Just a kiss would work fine, wouldn’t it?” Carole offered. Tuesday hesitated for a moment, then nodded and replied.

“Okay. Just on the cheek?”

“Mm.”

Carole leaned in towards Tuesday as she switched her phone into selfie mode and held up her index finger to a spot on her cheek.

“Iw thiw awight?” Carole mumbled into Tuesday’s face, and took the following shutter noise as a sign to stay completely still.

“Okay, I took a couple.” Tuesday leaned her head to the side with a swift motion, and Carole nodded back slightly in surprise as her lips unexpectedly detached. “We... can let Gus and Roddy pick a good one later.”

The thought of Gus looking through pictures of them being intimate made Carole shudder. But, she reassured herself, this was just a kiss on the cheek like any other couple, nothing personal to her and Tuesday - and besides, this was going out publicly, potentially to total strangers, so what was wrong with letting someone they knew well look at it? Now that they were official, she nodded, this was the only thing that made sense, no matter how strange it felt.

Tuesday’s voice interrupted her determined self-reassurement. “We should probably get going, shouldn’t we?”

Carole looked back at Tuesday, at the spot on her cheek she’d just kissed. The warm, familiar softness of Tues’s face lingered in her mind, the star shape of the pale freckles just above where her lips had touched - and all that would be left after they got up, for the world to see and talk about, was a single snapshot of a single angle.

“...Yeah, we should.”


	3. Chapter 3

┌ 7:31pm ┐

**Carole:** Hey are you on?

**Ezekiel:** something up

**Carole:** Just feeling weird, idk

**Ezekiel:** is this about tuesday again

**Ezekiel:** why do you think i’d be any help for this

**Carole:** Are we ever gonna have a conversation where I don’t have to remind you of our promise Amer

**Ezekiel:** leave me tf alone   
  


┌ 7:43pm ┐

**Ezekiel:** what’s she doing

**Carole:** And there he is again  ┐(￣ヮ￣)┌

**Ezekiel:** do you need to talk or not

**Ezekiel:** and the hell is with that face.

**Carole:** The kaomoji? Tues showed me a keyboard thing for them, it’s adorable right

**Ezekiel:** sure

**Ezekiel:** if that’s why you texted i’m blocking you

**Carole:** Alright, alright, fine

**Carole:** Did you read Mars Gossiper lately?

┌ 7:47pm ┐

**Carole:** Assuming not then

**Carole:** Long story short

┌ 7:50pm ┐

**Carole:** Tues and I just told the press we’re in a relationship

**Carole:** Like, official real kissing in public whatever

┌ 7:53pm ┐

**Ezekiel:** why would you come to me to talk about this

**Ezekiel:** i don’t understand you

**Carole:** I don’t know what’s actually going on between us and it’s freaking me out

**Ezekiel:** you just told me for some reason

**Carole:** Yeah, but that’s what I said in public, and that was just me

**Carole:** How do I know if Tues is okay with this, she’s acting kinda weird and I don’t know

**Carole:** I don’t know

**Ezekiel:** didn’t you talk to her

**Carole:** We talked with Gus and Roddy before the interview, they told us this was the best way to deal with things for now

**Carole:** If they tell me I can be officially dating Tues, do you really think I wouldn’t go along with that

**Ezekiel:** ugh

┌ 8:07pm ┐

**Ezekiel:** being in love is a fucking mess

**Ezekiel:** you focus all you’ve got on loving one person, you forget that they get to have opinions too

**Ezekiel:** your feelings don’t override their feelings, even if they’re really fucking strong

**Ezekiel:** and the only way to deal with that is to listen to them

**Ezekiel:** or just give up

**Carole:** I’m doing my best to listen, I just don’t know what she wants to say

**Ezekiel:** then figure out what you want to know

**Ezekiel:** and just say something about it

**Carole:** I guess, I wish I could just… read her mind idk

┌ 8:11pm ┐

**Carole:** But thanks, seriously

**Carole:** You don’t usually get this real when it’s about her

**Ezekiel:** will you stop asking me about her then

**Carole:** Huh? No I just really appreciate this, I knew I could count on you!

**Carole:** And, you know you can always hit me up if there’s anything troubling you

**Ezekiel:** bye

**Carole:** ( ´ ω ` )ノﾞ


	4. Chapter 4

The warm babble of a busy Saturday afternoon and a familiar jazz instrumental from the overhead speakers greeted the girls as they walked into the café. The comfy ambience and long list of fresh pastries had made it a quick favourite of Tuesday’s in the still short time she’d spent living in Alba City, but long days at the studio meant they hadn’t had the chance to get away for a while - _ perfect to take her mind off things for a bit _ , Carole had thought.  
As they were shown to a table by a visibly excited and starstruck waitress, Carole mentally kicked herself for getting carried away by that line of thinking. After all, she was fully intent on using this café date - she let her mind linger a second on the word _ date _, and felt that familiar spark wash over her - to bring up the things she was trying to take Tuesday’s mind off of in the first place. The last thing Carole wanted was to spoil a place that mattered so much to Tuesday, especially now that their lives were as overwhelming as they were.

“Ahh, I’ve been missing this,” Carole said as they pulled the cushioned wireframe chairs out and sat down opposite each other.

Tuesday nodded. “It really has been a while. Ooh, I wonder if they added any new cakes...”

Carole glanced past Tuesday’s shoulders and slently thanked the waitress for giving them seats in a slightly less busy end of the room, where the eyes on them wouldn’t be quite as many or easy to notice and worry about.

Not that the cozy café would have offered much reprieve either way; after The Announcement, going anywhere remotely public together had started feeling like a game of Spot The Cameras. Carole had figured people would be looking, and from watching Tuesday’s expression unrelentingly tense up as soon as they stepped outside, she could tell both of them were painfully aware of the stares. She doubted there were actually that many paparazzi out and about, but the risks that came with letting her guard down weren’t worth it. Seeing Tues’s reaction to a single stealth photo had been heartbreaking enough.  
As a result, the way they behaved in public had wordlessly turned into a kind of performance - their conversations outside had gotten less personal, just in case anyone was listening in, and if they got physically close to each other, it was always their hands connecting while walking or a well-choreographed kiss on the cheek. That made for the clearest and most wholesome couple aesthetic, Carole thought, but a part of her selfishly missed the casual thoughtless shoulder-leans on a park bench, letting her head tilt to smooch Tues’s collarbone as she leaned more and more of her body into Tues’s warmth…   
Carole shook her head to clear her mind off the stray thought, trying not to visibly show her guilt at getting lost in a scenario that just wasn’t theirs anymore.

“I was going to order the strawberry cream puff like always, but this pastry looks so nice too...” Tuesday dragged her fingers along the menu screen built into their table. “What are you getting, Carole?”

“Oh, uh… Do they still have the orange shortcake?”

Tuesday swiped twice to flip through the menu’s pages, then nodded gently, eyes still locked on the table. “It looks like it! Oh, and look at all the new tea flavours… Rose tea, doesn’t that sound adorable?”

Carole hesitated slightly before answering. This wasn’t why they were here, of course, but the chance to have a regular, non-awkward conversation with Tues like how they used to be was too tempting to resist.

“It really does! Oh, and imagine putting some nice honey in that...”

“Oh no, did you have to say that? I definitely need to get it now!” Tuesday finally looked up from the menu, and getting to see her looking this at ease reassured Carole that she’d absolutely made the right decision in letting the conversation stray. “Look at these pictures too, there are whole rose buds in there....”

The girls kept chatting - about sweets, the other cute customers at the cafe, bands and albums they’d discussed plenty of times before, anything that didn’t have to do with their current situation - until a quiet _ ding _ signaled the arrival of their desserts and hot drinks. As Tuesday lifted the plates and saucers off the waiter robot’s tray, Carole took the opportunity to check her phone.

┌ 2:01pm ┐

**Ezekiel:** going alright

┌ 2:14pm ┐

**Carole:** I think so yeah

**Ezekiel:** did she answer your questions

**Carole:** Oh we’ve just been talking in general, not about that

**Carole:** Tues showed me a really cute new tea flavour

┌ 2:16pm ┐

**Ezekiel:** why do i bother

**Carole:** Huh?

**Ezekiel:** why did you even take her here

**Ezekiel:** what’s the point if you just ignore the problems

**Carole:** I was going to bring it up eventually...

**Ezekiel:** why are you on your phone then

┌ 2:17pm ┐

**Ezekiel:** not everyone gets the chance to talk about how they feel in front of the person they love

**Ezekiel:** you’re wasting it

**Carole:** Alright, geez, I got it

**Carole:** (￣～￣;)

**Ezekiel:** s t o p

Carole turned her phone screen off and looked up at the girl across from her. The impossibly sweet green eyes, the freckles she knew well enough to trace with her eyes closed - the thought of doing or saying anything that’d spoil Tues’s cheerful expression felt like an absolute crime. But even so, even desperately wanting to drag this suddenly rare moment out into eternity, she knew she had to get the conversation started sooner or later.

“...Hey, something’s been on your mind lately, right?”

“Hm?” Tuesday munched off a piece of strawberry from her fork, and widened her eyes at Carole. 

“Well,” Carole continued, “with everything that’s happened recently… since the announcement.”

Tuesday’s face fell, and Carole felt her heart twinge at the sight of it.

“I-I totally get it, but there’s pretty clearly something weighing you down, and I think maybe we, uh, should just talk about...” Carole trailed off as Tuesday’s gaze dropped to her plate, lower lip quivering slightly.

“N-no, I’m fine, it’s just…” Tuesday’s voice faded into a near whisper. “Mother…”

Carole’s mind froze for a split second, before launching into an overwhelming stream of anxious unprepared thoughts. _ Valerie. _ Of course Tuesday would be worried about her mother’s reaction before anything else, especially in light of how their relationship was right now. How could she not have even considered Valerie? What kind of considerate friend wouldn’t think of that? Carole’s rapidly rising guilt was made even worse by an unignorable voice in the back of her mind repeatedly asking why _ someone else’s _ reaction to their relationship seemed to matter more to Tuesday than the actual relationship itself. She knew those thoughts were totally unfair to Tuesday, which just made things feel worse still, but even then, the nagging fear that her feelings weren’t being answered honestly kept creeping closer…

“I… saw some comments… on one of her campaign’s Insta posts, and...”

Hearing Tuesday’s still barely audible voice again lifted Carole out of the swirling cloud of sudden emotions for a moment, and she leaned forward.

“Valerie said something about _ us _?”

Tuesday shrank back slightly in her chair. “No, no, not her, just… Mother’s fans...”

Knowing they weren’t being publicly attacked by Valerie herself calmed Carole’s fears slightly, but she figured that didn’t stop Tuesday from assuming the worst of Valerie’s private reaction to their announcement. Not that the ignorant comments from strangers, whether positive or hateful, weren’t enough to make Carole’s blood boil all on their own. Who had made it okay for them to speculate on what was going on in her and Tuesday’s personal life?

Tuesday kept her gaze fixed on the almost-finished cake in front of her, letting her arm drop to the table. “People are assuming really serious things, like we just wanted to make a statement, and it just, I don’t know...”

Carole bit into her lower lip instinctively. _ A statement? _ She wanted to raise her voice, to drag up those comments and give them a fitting response, _ to ask Tuesday if she thought the same and just didn’t want to say it for Carole’s sake _ , but words failed her. None of that was what Tuesday needed, and the surging guilt over forgetting Valerie made it impossible to focus on anyone’s needs but Tuesday’s.  
Without replying, Carole reached out and clumsily put her hand over Tuesday’s, nudging her thumb in under Tuesday’s index finger. Tuesday’s hand twitched slightly at the sudden touch, then nearly instantly relaxed again, letting Carole’s fingers rest in the grooves between Tuesday’s knuckles. It wasn’t a tight grip like when they were nervous before a show, not the soft, moving touch of evenings alone together in the apartment, not the familiar feeling of being totally and unbreakably connected, wordlessly united in the face of the world - but it was _ something _. Carole closed her eyes and just breathed, trying to find Tuesday’s pace and match it. 

“Um, excuse me!”

A high-pitched voice from the left startled the girls, and they quickly pulled their hands back.

“I, um, brought your bill...”

Carole turned her head to see the waitress from before, looking bashfully off to the side and holding out an ornate plastic box with a receipt rolled up inside it.

“...Ah! Thanks.” Trying to keep the assorted emotions from the past few minutes from showing on her face, Carole took the box from the near-trembling waitress and placed it next to her empty teacup.

“And, um,” the waitress continued, “I’m a really big fan! I’ve been listening since LoneGirl, and you’ve really inspired me, and… C-could I take a picture with you?”

Normally Carole would’ve been a lot more enthusiastic about meeting a fan, especially in a place so important to Tuesday, but with the overwhelming mass of thoughts in her head all she could manage was a nod.  
The waitress took out her phone from the pocket of her apron, bent down next to the blank-faced Carole and still-frazzled Tuesday and stretched out her arm to take a couple of selfies.

“Oh my god, thank you so much,” the waitress stood up and stammered out. “Thank you for visiting, your music is so wonderful, I love you!”

As she turned and hurried away to another table, Carole caught herself dwelling on the waitress’s words. _ That was so easy for her to say, and yet we’re here like this… _

Seemingly less affected, Tuesday gathered her things and slowly got up from her wireframe chair. Carole followed suit, bringing her phone out of her jeans pocket again as she stood.

┌ 2:41pm ┐

**Carole:** Am I a bad friend

**Carole:** I thought I was doing this for Tues but I ignored what’s actually bothering her what’s wrong with me

┌ 2:43pm ┐

**Ezekiel:** >friend

**Ezekiel:** what the hell is going on

**Carole:** I don’t know I can’t get my thoughts straight, Tues next to me

**Ezekiel:** so you didn’t work anything out

**Ezekiel:** and you still call her friend ??

**Ezekiel:** what are you

**Carole:** I don’t know I just

**Carole:** I love her

**Carole:** I Love Her

_ Ezekiel has gone offline. _

“Is something the matter?”

Tuesday’s concerned voice made Carole hastily turn her phone screen off and look up. Blushing heavier than she had all afternoon, she replied.

“Just... just work stuff.”


End file.
